1. Technical Field
The present invention generally pertains to turf care equipment, such as lawn mowers and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a bed knife blade for a reel-type lawn mower.
2. Discussion
Commercial turf care equipment often employ reel-type lawn mowers for mowing golf greens. These reel-type mowers typically include a frame having a rotatably mounted cutting reel and a bed knife blade positioned in close proximity to the cutting reel. As the cutting reel is rotated, the blades of grass projecting between the cutting reel and the bed knife blade are cut at a desired height. In order to repeatedly cut blades of grass in this manner, it is advantageous to maintain sharp edges on both the cutting reel blades and the bed knife blade for as long a duration as possible. Accordingly, most bed knife blades are constructed from materials such as heat treated high carbon steel in order to maintain a sharp edge over time.
Unfortunately, even though the bed knife is heat treated, the blade typically requires frequent sharpening and eventual replacement. Because the entire conventional bed knife blade is constructed from high carbon steel, manufacture and replacement of such a blade is expensive. Specifically, costly carbide cutting tools are required to rough machine a hot formed, high carbon steel blank. The blank is next heat treated and ground on two surfaces to produce a knife edge.
In addition to high manufacturing process costs, the current bed knife blade design is also costly to manufacture due to the type of raw material which must be used. Specifically, in order to resist impact and bending loads at the mounting location, material toughness is required. Furthermore, to provide a long lasting cutting edge, high hardness is beneficial. Currently, expensive steel alloys exhibiting both toughness and hardenability are selected for use in this application.